Tips 'n tricks for billing more hours

jrh

Well-Known Member
Some comments I made in the "Owner mentality" thread got me thinking about all the different things an instructor can do to boost the number of hours they bill each month. I thought I'd post mine here, then you can add yours. Hope this helps somebody:

Take the time to do thorough ground briefings, and bill for all ground time.

Be comfortable teaching on really windy days (especially important in Nebraska!).

If a plane goes down for maintenance, make a useful lesson in another plane, even if the backup plane is different from the first, rather than cancel the flight. For instance, if it's a G1000 vs. a conventional panel, tell the customer, "Hey, the panel is different, but we're only doing pattern work, so the panel doesn't really matter." Or if it's switching a 152 to a 172, say, "I know the plane will feel different, but for flying this cross country, the plane doesn't matter. The main goal is to see checkpoints, talk on the radio, etc. Plus, you wanted to get checked out in this plane after getting your license anyway, right?"

Always schedule customers for their next flight before they leave, rather than take the "I'll call you later" answer from them and don't hear from them for two weeks.

If you haven't heard from a customer in a while, call them up to find out why they haven't been flying lately. Don't let them drop off the map for too long.

If the weather is IFR, check the cloud tops and try to teach VFR maneuvers on top. This also inspires the customer to get an instrument rating in the future because they see how fun and useful it is.

Talk about what they'll do on the next lesson, to keep them excited about flying and anxious to come out to the airport again.

If the weather is solid IFR and you can't fly with your normal VFR customers, have a list handy of anyone working on their instrument rating, or even interested in an instrument rating. Call them up and see if they want to go get some time in the clouds.

Don't ever downplay a cross country as being "too long" for private pilot training. I've gone on 300 mile round trip cross countries with student pilots because that's where they wanted to go, and it kept their training fun.

Suggest longer than ordinary cross countries because the destination has something fun...an air museum, good restaurant, etc.

Be as flexible with your schedule as possible. They want to fly early in the morning? Do it. Late at night? Weekends? Do it.

If the customer is having a hard time finding a place in their schedule to fly, suggest a time, even if it's unusual. When I've suggested coming in at 8 p.m. for a normal lesson, I've oftentimes heard, "Oh, really? Sure! I didn't know you were willing to fly that late." One time I flew an instrument cross country, departing at 11 p.m. on Saturday night because that's the only time the customer and I had available.



I'm sure there are many more tricks. Please share!
 
Give yourself LOTS of time for pre- and post-brief. If you block off a big chunk of time, especially with primary and instrument students, it's not hard to find stuff to fill the time, especially if you have good visual aides available and get the student up out of their chair to go look at them so they're not falling asleep. My previous job had 2 buildings worth of mx labs available in our main ground school area. That was a GREAT place to teach airplane systems because I could find an example of any part of the airplane I wanted to demonstrate. Blocking off lots of time also keeps you from being crunched and skimming through the pre- and post-briefs because you need to be IN THE AIRPLANE with your next student now.

To expand on jrh's comments on weather, get familiar with and comfortable with the weather patterns in your area of the country. For example, y'all in Florida should probably know that when the TAF calls for PROB30 +TSRA you will be just fine to go as long as you take a look at the radar before takeoff and keep an eye on the rainshafts while aloft.

After a while, you will get good enough that your co-workers might pitch problem students your way for a flight or two to get over a particular hurdle. This is especially true if you can become known for a specialty-one of mine was helping students with Twinstar steep turns.

Be available and willing to cover late-night cross countries and other odd flights, especially if your school is one of those where the old fogey chiefs and assistant chiefs have students but don't like to work outside 9-5.

Get to know your mx folks, this helps you get in on mx test flights and ferry flights. We took our airplanes an hour away by air to get IFR certs done so the lucky instructors that got chosen to cover those flights got 2 hours of flying time and several hours of sitting at the shop all paid. This of course only applies if your boss isn't a cheapskate who makes you do these flights for free.
 
Don't Just get out there and rush through lessons. I feel cheated if I get back on the ground and the hobs is only .8. This is a fine line though. As long as you keep the lesson productive and fun, a student will not complain about a lesson being 1.2 or 1.3. Not a whole lot of time, but it adds up if you have a busy week.

To touch on the above talking about knowing wx patterns. Also know what the extened forecast is going to be.if monday and tuesday next week are going to be 80% chance of thunderstorms and mostly cloudy don't make those days your busy days.
 
One caution to some of the other CFIs out there who are reading this, be careful regarding blocking out and billing extra ground time for the briefs. You need to make sure that you do it like these guys do, put the extra effort into preparing material and actually TEACH something during that ground time. Make it productive, not just fluff. People, in general, don't mind paying for the extra time if they are getting some really good information out of it, but they will turn on you in a heartbeat if they think that you are just milking them. And believe me, they can tell.

The bottom line for all of the tricks for billing more is that you have to work harder to make it happen or it WILL backfire on you. I applaud all of you CFIs that take the effort to do it right, you earn your money.

TAANSTAFL!
 
Build a database of assignments. Assign them, and go over them at the beginning of each lesson (or in the postbrief, as time allows). Doing stuff like that REALLY cuts down on the cramming for the oral at the end of a student's training, and if done correctly is of great value to the student.
 
Some comments I made in the "Owner mentality" thread got me thinking about all the different things an instructor can do to boost the number of hours they bill each month. I thought I'd post mine here, then you can add yours. Hope this helps somebody:

Take the time to do thorough ground briefings, and bill for all ground time.

Be comfortable teaching on really windy days (especially important in Nebraska!).

If a plane goes down for maintenance, make a useful lesson in another plane, even if the backup plane is different from the first, rather than cancel the flight. For instance, if it's a G1000 vs. a conventional panel, tell the customer, "Hey, the panel is different, but we're only doing pattern work, so the panel doesn't really matter." Or if it's switching a 152 to a 172, say, "I know the plane will feel different, but for flying this cross country, the plane doesn't matter. The main goal is to see checkpoints, talk on the radio, etc. Plus, you wanted to get checked out in this plane after getting your license anyway, right?"

Always schedule customers for their next flight before they leave, rather than take the "I'll call you later" answer from them and don't hear from them for two weeks.

If you haven't heard from a customer in a while, call them up to find out why they haven't been flying lately. Don't let them drop off the map for too long.

If the weather is IFR, check the cloud tops and try to teach VFR maneuvers on top. This also inspires the customer to get an instrument rating in the future because they see how fun and useful it is.

Talk about what they'll do on the next lesson, to keep them excited about flying and anxious to come out to the airport again.

If the weather is solid IFR and you can't fly with your normal VFR customers, have a list handy of anyone working on their instrument rating, or even interested in an instrument rating. Call them up and see if they want to go get some time in the clouds.

Don't ever downplay a cross country as being "too long" for private pilot training. I've gone on 300 mile round trip cross countries with student pilots because that's where they wanted to go, and it kept their training fun.

Suggest longer than ordinary cross countries because the destination has something fun...an air museum, good restaurant, etc.

Be as flexible with your schedule as possible. They want to fly early in the morning? Do it. Late at night? Weekends? Do it.

If the customer is having a hard time finding a place in their schedule to fly, suggest a time, even if it's unusual. When I've suggested coming in at 8 p.m. for a normal lesson, I've oftentimes heard, "Oh, really? Sure! I didn't know you were willing to fly that late." One time I flew an instrument cross country, departing at 11 p.m. on Saturday night because that's the only time the customer and I had available.



I'm sure there are many more tricks. Please share!

Very ethical techniques. bravo!

:clap:


b.
 
One method is on bad days where you may be able to get more than 2 pilots in a ground school.Offer to charge them half time. If you have three students you will bill 1.5 hours in 1 hour of time. Four students would be 2 hours of billing in 1 hour of time. Most people wont mind as they get cheaper ground school but at the same time the CFI will be able to bill more hours in less time.
 
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